Program Overview

Since 1972, USA Hockey has offered a Coaching Education Program to train volunteer coaches in the technical, administrative, and humanistic skills necessary to work with amateur athletes.  The USA Hockey Coaching Education Program is widely recognized within the U.S. Olympic community as one of the best, or the best, training program of its type.  USA Hockey commits over $1 million to this program annually to maintain and enhance its curriculum and materials.  This investment is based on three significant arguments which are universally accepted in the US amateur hockey community:

  1. Quality coaching is the single most important factor in the development of athletes, and the sport itself.
  2. The experiences a player gains as he/she participates in hockey are directly influenced by the coach's qualifications and their educational background.
  3. Recognizing that a wide variety of people are engaged in coaching youth hockey, for a variety of reasons, the education program must be kept simple, practical, age-specific, and user friendly.